Globular clusters could harbor massive central black holes (BHs), just
as galaxies do. So far, no unambiguous detection of a massive BH has
been reported for any globular cluster. However, the dense
core-collapsed cluster M15 seems to be a good candidate. I review the
available photometric and kinematic data for this cluster. Both are
consistent with a BH of approximately 2000 solar masses, although such
a BH is not unambiguously required by the data. I discuss some ongoing
studies with Keck and HST which should shed more light on this issue
in the coming years.
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Last modified March 21, 2001.
Roeland van der Marel,
marel@stsci.edu.
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